Biomedical Engineering in BulgariaThe Bulgarian Society of Biomedical Physics and Engineering was founded in 1971. Before that time physicists were members of the National Radiological Society and the engineers were, from 1997, within the medical engineering section of the Bulgarian Physiological Society. The biomedical engineering section of the current society is a collective member of IFMBE. The section maintains contacts with its sister organisations in Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Greece, Turkey and others. Its various activities include: organisation of national conferences, distribution of information on scientific conferences and symposia abroad, review of new books, approbation of dissertations and research projects, celebration of anniversaries of important scientific events, etc. Other activities include consultations with the Ministry of Health and various government agencies, hospitals, rehabilitation centres etc. on major problems of medical engineering. EducationAn essential task is participation in the education of biomedical engineers and in postgraduate training; some of our members are lecturing both at home and abroad. Educational activities in biomedical engineering have been undertaken in recent years by the Technical Universities of Varna, Plovdiv (a branch of TU- Sofia) and Gabrovo. About 30 young biomedical engineers graduate yearly from the Technical University of Sofia. There are about 50 highly qualified Ph.D. and DSc. specialists. Teaching and research activities are successfully combined, due to collaboration between the Faculty of Electronic Engineering and Technology of the Technical University and the Centre of Biomedical Engineering of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Ph.D. and Diploma theses are jointly supervised, common projects are developed, links with several industrial groups are maintained. Considerable improvement in this direction was reached due to an European Union (EU) funded TEMPUS project, co-ordinated by Professor Basil Proimos, offering the possibility for Bulgarian students to participate into an international bioengineering course organised at the University of Patras, Greece. Also, Bulgarian professors are participating as lecturers to another EU funded TEMPUS project on an international postgraduate course on medical radiation physics and engineering initiated by Professor V. C. Roberts and Dr. S. Tabakov (UK). ResearchScience and research activities in biomedical engineering are concentrated mainly in several institutions in Sofia. These are the Centre of Biomedical Engineering, the bioengineering groups in the Institute of Physiology and the Institute of Biophysics, the Department of Medical Electronics at the Faculty of Electronic Engineering, the Clinical Engineering Departments of the Medical University and the Military Medical Academy. More than 350 papers on different topics of biomedical engineering have been published in international journals, and books written by our colleagues have been cited by more than 800 authors abroad. Clinical Engineering has a long tradition in Bulgaria. About 800 engineers and technicians are in this field, some of them in separate service units as representatives of foreign manufacturers and as clinical engineers in the larger hospitals. The majority of the engineers in these groups are TU-Sofia graduates in medical electronics. The medical engineering industry used to include assembly of X-ray units in co-operation with foreign manufacturers, production of locally developed X-ray units and electrotherapy devices, standard blood pressure measurement devices, surgical instruments, etc. At the moment the main manufacturer is EMA-Engineering Co. Its products include: microprocessor-based electrocardiographs, ECG and respiration monitors, electrical stimulators, etc., developed by the Centre of Biomedical Engineering. EMA products are very well accepted by the internal market and about 50% of the production is exported. ConferencesThe Society holds its regular scientific conferences with international participation every four years. Scientists from USA, France, Germany, England, India and from all central and eastern European countries have taken part in the six conferences held since 1972. The 6th and 7th conferences (in 1992 and 1996 respectively) attracted all local physicists and engineers involved in research, but only a modest number of guests from abroad. The political changes in central and eastern Europe, including our own country, reflected on the status and activities of our colleagues. There is a decline in local medical instrumentation production, hospital services and acquisition of new equipment. Young specialists have emigrated to developed countries. Severe financial difficulties prevent us from subscribing to international BME journals and participating in conferences and symposia, and impede the organisation of postgraduate courses and of specialists meetings. The extremely bad conditions in health care establishments do not attract young engineers in the bioengineering profession. In the past few years, an increase in international relations and contacts can be noted, mainly due to the actions and financial help of colleagues abroad and of international organisations. However, in spite of the serious economic problems of our country and the emigration, there is an optimism for a better future for the Society, based on the considerable scientific and technological experience and competence of our engineers.
Ivan Daskalov | ||